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2011 Annual Gathering: The New Normal PDF Print E-mail

Annual Gathering Focuses on The Missional Church

The 2011 Annual Gathering of the American Baptist Churches of Oregon will be held in the Portland suburb of Gresham at First Baptist Church of Gresham on October 21-23. 

ABC-USA Associate General Secretary, Dr. Jeff Woods, American Baptist Home Mission Societies’ Transformation Strategist, Rev. Glynis LaBarre, International Ministries’ Missionaries to Brazil, Bruce and Ann Borquist and American Baptist Seminary of the West President, Dr. Paul Martin, will join our keynote speaker, Rev. Max Ramsey as we explore together the challenges and opportunities that our rapidly-changing culture is presenting to our congregations.

Rev. Ramsey introduces himself simply, “I have been in full-time ministry since 1999, and have been a victim of God's grace a lot longer than that.”  He has been at Immanuel-Brookfield (Wisconsin) since 2000 after having served in prison and hospice chaplaincy. Immanuel has planted two new missional communities in Milwaukee, and operates two street ministries under the name of “StreetLife Ministries” that serve the homeless in the city. Their community has planted another missional community in Saginaw, MI in partnership with Beacon of Hope Church (ABC-USA) called “Backstreet Ministries”.  Immanuel has partnered with others to initiate 17 different missions and ministries that function outside of our walls. Max explains, “We are a missional community, born out of a traditional ABC-USA church that serves the Kingdom of God and seeks to multiply its mission in the world around us.”

Download a copy of the 2011 Annual Gathering informational flyer and registration form here.
 
Word of Life / Morning Star Covenant PDF Print E-mail

After over ninety years of ministry, the Word of Life Community Church (the site of our 2009 Annual Gathering) has decided to draw its active ministry to a close.  As part of their discernment process, they decided that they wanted to accomplish several things.  First, they wanted to get enough money to ensure the continued support of their mission commitments for several years, and second, they wanted to entrust the building to a church that would continue its stewardship as a place where mission and ministry to the Cully Neighborhood would continue.  Because they were “selling” the property for pennies on the dollar, they had more than one congregation vying for the privilege of purchasing it.

After a lengthy process, the congregation determined that Morning Star Missionary Baptist Church would be the congregation in which they would vest their trust.  Since a fire destroyed their building four years ago, the congregation, led by Pastor A. Wayne Johnson, has continued to meet faithfully and planned to rebuild on the site of the original building.  When that dream faded due to the costs involved in rebuilding, this opportunity presented itself.  Providentially, Morning Star had been meeting mere blocks from their new home and has already had an impact on the area.
 
Morning Star has committed itself to using the property as a multicultural church-planting campus.  There are already two other churches leasing space there, including a Vietnamese congregation.  Morning Star hopes to plant two more, including a Spanish-speaking congregation, within the next two years.
 
Word of Life held their final worship service on Easter Sunday.  At a joint service the next Sunday, the keys to the building were passed to Pastor Johnson and the covenant to be wise stewards of the property was formally restated.  The two congregations celebrated communion together and several members of Word of Life indicated that they would be joining the Morning Star congregation.
 
Raisons d'etre PDF Print E-mail
The churches in ABCO are joined together in a covenant partnership to encourage, empower, and equip one another to discover and fulfill their unique mission in their communities, and around the world. 
 
They are committed to cooperating in mission and ministries that can be best accomplished jointly.
 
The region structure and staff is established and maintained collectively by the churches to achieve these ends.
 
ABCO Welcomes New California Churches PDF Print E-mail

At its regularly scheduled meeting on February 15, 2011 in Salem, the Board of Ministries of the American Baptist Churches of Oregon voted unanimously to approve applications for membership as fully cooperating congregations from the following churches. 

Church Without Walls, Oakland 
Community Church of Hayward
Oakland Burmese Mission Baptist Church
New Life Christian Fellowship, Castro Valley
First Baptist Church, Alameda
Antioch Baptist Church, San Jose 
Allen Temple Baptist Church, Oakland
 
At its regularly scheduled meeting on May 2, 2011 in Cottage Grove, the BOM of ABCO voted unanimously to approve applications from these churches.
 
Portola Baptist Church, San Francisco
Iglesia Bautista Pueblo de Dios, Concord
Atwater Baptist Church, Atwater
 
At its regularly scheduled meeting on August 23, 2011 in Portland, the BOM of ABCO voted unanimously to approve applications from these churches.
 
Third Baptist Church, San Francisco
Cornerstone Fellowship, San Lorenzo

We appreciate each congregation’s rich history with our denomination and look forward to partnering with them in ministry and mission.
 
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